Benefits of Pull Ups

Benefits of Pull Ups
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Pull-ups are the pre-eminent exercise for building upper-body strength and muscle mass. A pull-up is a compound exercise that primarily concentrates on enhancing the muscles in your back, shoulders and arms. Pull-ups additionally strengthen your grip and serratus, pectorals and abdominal muscles. Completing a proper pull-up is not an easy task. However, once you are able to properly do pull-ups routinely, your body will become noticeably more toned and muscular.

Pull-Ups

An elevated and sturdy bar is required to do pull-ups. Grasp the bar with your hands at shoulder width with your palms facing forward and allow your body to hang suspended in the air. While hanging with your arms entirely straight, pull yourself up in a controlled manner until your chin emerges above the bar and your chest nearly touches it. Subsequently, slowly lower yourself back down to the starting position, breathe, and repeat the process. When you do a pull-up with correct form, your body should be straight and never swing. Furthermore, your feet should never touch the ground.

Primary Muscles Worked

According to the website Body Building, the wider you make your grip, the more your lats will be emphasized. When you achieve defined lats, your back will develop the appearance of the letter "V." The closer you place your hands together, the more the exercise will focus on your biceps and shoulders. The biceps, shoulders and back are extensively trained when you do pull-ups.

Secondary Muscles Worked

Pull-ups genuinely work your entire upper-body. Therefore, beyond your biceps, shoulders and back, you can also expect to define your chest and abs. To particularly shred your stomach muscles, keep your legs elevated and tucked against your body while you pull yourself up to the bar. Your chest will be partially exercised strictly by the motion of using your arms to hoist yourself into the air.

Beginner to Expert

Pull-ups demand tremendous strength. Many people wrongly believe that if they are heavy, they will be unable to successfully complete a pull-up. As the website Strong Lifts succinctly states, "Your body-weight is not the problem. Strength is." If you are a beginner, initially attempt to complete one pull-up with ideal form. Henceforth, try to do two pull-ups, and increase your repetitions as you are able. Once you have become an expert at pull-ups and your strength has been drastically increased, you can use weight to add resistance. Adding weight will ensure that the exercise remains challenging for you. Strong Lifts offers two ideas to increase the difficulty of pull-ups. One option is to place a 10-20 pound dumbbell between your legs. Another alternative is to wear a dipping belt, which has chains attached to it. Take a chain and clasp weights onto it. After the weight is firmly secured to the chains, attempt to complete a pull-up with greater resistance.

References

Article reviewed by GlennK Last updated on: May 26, 2010

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